


one hand, colder than the other

by bujuui



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Music Stores
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-04-24 22:30:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4937590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bujuui/pseuds/bujuui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One reserved piano arrangement and red striped umbrella later, Changkyun is right here in a little music sheet store with way more than he bargained for. You won't find him complaining, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. why i hate pianos

Changkyun knew college wasn’t going to be easy, he knew that he’d have to speak in front of strangers and live with one or two other people, he knew that. He just hadn’t known that it was going to be this hard to do the little things too. Like getting out of bed on time or remembering to eat something with his medication and making sure he called home once a week so his mother could make sure he was doing good. Changkyun hated the way he was. Over sensitive, quiet, nothing but bad luck and uselessness all balled up and smooshed together. That was him. A walking disaster. It seemed like everyone knew it too. No one talked to him in any of his classes, though he had tried his best to pick ones that required the least amount of effort. Taking a course in music introductions had seemed like less work than it actually was. 

Figuring he could just learn how to play and then practice alone in one of the soundproof practice rooms. Instead he found himself sitting at a desk writing sheet music because he’d finally found something he good at. He wrote all the time as soon as he discovered this talent he hadn’t known he had. He wrote songs without words, two at a time when he was in the mood. He wrote them for classmates who asked him, his roommate who desperately needed something to play, and for his teacher who gave him endless praise and an A+ on everything he did so long as she liked the way it sounded. Changkyun also wrote for people he didn’t know too. He wrote for strangers, people on the bus late at night who put slow eerie melodies in his head. For the girl behind the counter every Friday night that always gave him one penny to many every time. For the boy who comes over to his roommates room every other night that leaves in the morning when only Changkyun is awake. Anything that made a sound in his head, he’d write it down and play it in class the next day. He never ran out of sounds, he had an abundance of music notes that he knew he would never use up.

He also came to find out he had a knack for playing the piano. He had originally wanted to try the drums or maybe the guitar but they were proven to be disastrous. Nothing ever came out right and drums created too many complaints from his roommate. When Changkyun had slid onto the piano’s bench for the first time, he had laughed a little to himself. Him? Playing piano? That seemed about as likely as getting all A’s.. Yet here he was. Playing the piano and getting all A’s. Life seemed like a dream the first few months of college. It was hell for the first two. Trying to find out where he belonged in the world of cramming for tests at 4am and drinking a year's worth of coffee within the span of time it takes to ride the bus from his dorm to the classroom, which he was surprised was quite a lot. After he finally found his rhythm, the things he was good at, places and people he could go to; life slowed down enough for him to take his time a look around. To see that it was colder than when he’d arrived five months ago. It was chilly enough to need at least a long sleeve and Changkyun was happy to find that he wasn’t the only one who was using the weather as an excuse to show to class in his pajamas. 

The only thing Changkyun couldn’t seem to get a hold on was writing the actual song. The words, the _lyrics_. He’d try, fumble with the direction he wanted to take, but it never worked how he wanted. The words didn’t match the feeling he had behind the sound. When he talked to his friend, the quiet rough looking kid who sat in the back by the name of Wonho, he had offered to lend a hand. Changkyun agreed and it was easy, went smoothly and all of Wonho’s lyrics came out perfectly, they mixed in with Changkyun’s notes and they both spent hours locked up in one of the rooms working out song after song. Wonho had smiled after the third one was completed, had looked up from his pile of notebook pages that were scattered around him from his his seat on the floor and said, _’you’re the lightning, and I’m the key on the kite. what we’re making? that’s the spark. this is perfect, Changkyun’_. Changkyun had smiled back and from his own seat on the piano bench, he let out a soft sigh and played another piece, Wonho’s pencil working its way across each line of paper. 

Night after night of this and Wonho and him had completed enough songs to make an album. The only thing was they didn’t have anyone to sing the lyrics that Wonho wrote. Changkyun had been devastated upon finding out. _you can’t sing?_ He had asked Wonho the last night they worked together. Wonho sadly smiled and put his coat on. _sorry, find me when you need more words though, that I can help you with. best of luck_ Changkyun was a little sad to see Wonho go. They texted for awhile after not meeting up every night, but Wonho faded out of his daily life after a while and Changkyun found himself letting it happen.

Break was coming up, Changkyun would have the dorm to himself. His roommate, a loud boy by the name of Jooheon, was going back home for the week-long break. Changkyun had lied and said he was going back home as well, didn’t want to lie and have to explain he didn’t have that kind of bond with his parents. Less complication. Besides, Changkyun was fairly certain that Jooheon was going to his boyfriends. Made Changkyun think maybe he’d like something, _someone_ like that. A person he could go to for a hug, to keep him warm when the chilly leaves falling from the trees become snowflakes. Though Changkyun tried to talk to more people, but the girls in his class fawning over his composing skills were doing nothing but just that, praising him. Of course there were the occasional ones who would hint that they’d _’love to hear you play sometime.. maybe at your place?’_. But that wasn’t, and still isn’t, what Changkyun wanted. He wanted someone who was there for him when he wanted more than a warm body next to his own. Someone who was like what he sees walking down the street. Couples with their hands intertwined, shy smiles and sweet kisses to the corner of the mouth. Changkyun wanted, but never reached out for it. Fate could put the piece together, he’d decided one night after composing a song for a pretty curly haired girl he’d smiled at on the bus home. She hadn’t smiled back and he’d named the piece _‘bitter sweet_. 

 

“See ya in a week!” Jooheon yelled halfway out the door, Jooheon’s boyfriend smiling and waving as he took Jooheon’s hand into his own. Changkyun groaned and shut the door after them. Jooheon had requested for him to see him off at the ungodly hour of 7am. Changkyun flopped onto his bed a wrapped himself into his covers. This was _fine._ He could just sleep away the entire break. Maybe stop by the classroom and see if they keep the doors unlocked. That way he could get a few more songs in and surprise his teacher. Maybe he should invest in a keyboard. Changkyun glanced at the clock displaying a time far too early for his taste and groaned again, snuggling further into the bed. The keyboard could wait, it was cold outside and he wasn’t about to spend first day of break in a store full of people. Later though, later.

 

❰ ❱

 

Later came three days later, and only because Changkyun had eaten the last bowl of ramen left. Jooheon would probably be impressed that he’d eaten that much in such little amount of time.. if he were around. Now, Changkyun found himself wrapping a scarf around his neck in attempt to cover the skin that his coat didn’t. It looked cold out, Changkyun pressed his hand against the window and shivered. It was so cold, as if the seasons had decided to skip fall and head straight to winter. He put his hand in his pocket and walked outside, leaving the warmth of his and Jooheon’s appartment behind. 

There were no other people walking along the street, Changkyun noted. Probably inside where it wasn’t -20 degrees out. The logical part of Changkyun’s brain told him it’s because everyone was with their family enjoying their break. Changkyun walked halfway to the store when he felt a drop of something hit his head. And then another, and another, and oh. It was raining. Changkyun spotted a store that looked open and sprinted over to it, running inside and walking as far away from the door as the wall would let him. And that’s how Changkyun found himself in isle three of a music sheet store that smelled like old books. The lights were dim and gave the paper a yellow tint, its shelves were lined with stacks of sheet music ranging from the classics to modern. Changkyun found himself drawn to the piano arrangements in isle seven.

He flipped through an arrangement titled “ _why I hate pianos_ ” while waiting for the warmth to seep back into his fingers. He didn’t even notice the slightly taller boy standing next to him, trying to read over his shoulder. Didn’t even notice the soft hum right next to his ear, breath warm against his still chilly skin. Until he talked, which promptly made Changkyun jump and throw the book. 

“Oh my god! I am _so_ sorry, are you okay?” The boy asked, trying his damned best to stop laughing. Changkyun blushed and searched for the book he was sure he’d probably broken and need to pay for. “Here, looking for this?” The boy asked. Changkyun nodded and took the book from his hand. Their fingers touched and Changkyun felt a jolt of something warm. It made him step back and drop the book again. The boy asked if he was okay again, this time with real concern. 

“Y- yeah, sorry, my hands.. they’re.. I mean- your hand is warm.” Changkyun wanted to kick himself, what kind of sentence was _that_? The boy made an ‘o’ with his mouth as if coming to an understanding with the strange string of words that he’d heard. In the next moment Changkyun felt the same jolt of warmth again, his hand being held by the boy’s own, and then he was bringing Changkyun’s hand to his mouth and blowing hot air onto it. Changkyun was too shocked to move away and so the boy repeated the action a few more times before giving his hand a squeeze before letting it go. “Um.. Thank you?”

The boy smiled. “It’s warmer now, no? You’re welcome!” He said, picking up the book, again, and handing it over. “Want me to ring that up for you?” He asked. Changkyun noticed then that the boy was wearing a store uniform. He stole a glance at the boy’s name tag (Yoo Kihyun) before nodding dumbly. The boy smiled again and motioned for Changkyun to follow him to the register. 

“You play?” Kihyun asked. Changkyun took a moment to realise he was referring to the piano. 

“Oh! Yes.” Kihyun nodded and scanned the item.

“Cool, never had the money to learn how to, I envy you. How long you been playing?” He asked, tapping a lone finger on the counter. Changkyun fumbled for his wallet while he answered.

“Only about a year.” Changkyun noticed then that he’d left his wallet back at the apartment

“Ah, you go to that college just a ways up the street?” Changkyun nodded. “Nice, I’ve always wanted to check out that place.” 

Changkyun gave him a questioning look. “You’re not a student?”

Kihyun chuckled. “No, I don’t go to college.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have any money.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Another chuckle. “Don’t be! Besides, I have tons of fun sleeping in and working here.”

“If you work here.. don’t you have a little money saved up?” Changkyun asked, hoping he didn’t seem nosy or rude. He seemed to have a bad habit of not knowing when to shut up, he’d found out the hard way while making the few friends he had now. 

Kihyun smiled, this one a little sad. “It’s a little complicated.” Shit. He’d done it again, asked for too much information and crossed too many lines. “And before you say sorry, don’t be, I can see the regret in your eyes.” Kihyun laughed again. “You’re so innocent. What year are you?”

“First.”

“Makes sense, you seem really young. I’d be on my third year if I went to college.”

Changkyun nodded and hated himself for creating such an awkward atmosphere. Kihyun smiled politely and Changkyun wanted to shrink up and die when he realised he was probably waiting for him to pay. “Oh! I- I forgot my wallet at home..” Changkyun quickly explained.

“That’s fine! Want me to save this for you? It’s really popular right now, might be gone next time you come by.” Kihyun answered calmly. Changkyun nodded and offered a smile. Kihyun returned it and they both stood there smiling again. “Do you need anything else?” Kihyun asked after a minute.

“Umm,” Changkyun looked out the glass door from where he stood and grimaced at the rain. Kihyun laughed from behind the counter.

“Do you want an umbrella?” He asked. Changkyun was about to refuse but a red and white striped umbrella was already being pushed into his arms. “Thanks.. I-”

Kihyun eyed him, “You…?”

“I wish I had something to repay you, you’ve been really kind and you don’t even know me.” Changkyun fiddled with the umbrella’s handle. 

Kihyun smiled and damn Changkyun could hear about five songs begging to be written about it. “Repay me for what? My hand warming services? Didn’t think they were that good.. maybe I _should_ be charging people for that.” He laughed at the look Changkyun must have given him and waved his hand dismissively. “I’m kidding, hand warming comes free as charge, you can actually repay me by giving me your name so I can register this arrangement for you.”

Changkyun felt so small. He had nothing funny or witty to say and here Kihyun was, one comedic line after the next. “Changkyun.” He said, trying to make his voice into not that of a small child-like adult. Kihyun saw right through it and stopped himself from laugh just in time.

“Well, Changkyun, your item can be held for up to six weeks, so take your time coming back.” Kihyun informed him. Changkyun nodded and walked towards the door, borrowed umbrella in hand. “But don’t wait too long.” He finished when Changkyun was already outside.

 

❰ ❱


	2. why i hate meeting new people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Changkyun almost murders someone. The result? Making Kihyun smile.

“Have a nice break?” Was the first thing Jooheon asked when he walked back into the apartment seven days later. Changkyun considered telling him no, that he had spent the last few days contemplating on whether or not he should go back to the little music sheet store. He _wanted_ to, though he couldn’t place exactly why. Everytime he sat down and tried to think about it, he could only come to the conclusion that he wanted to go pick up the arrangement that he had on reserve. Yeah, that’s what it was. Even if Changkyun found himself staring at the red and white umbrella that sat in the corner of his room more often than not. 

“Mmm it was good.” Changkyun answered from his position on the couch. Jooheon nodded while he unpacked and shoved what Changkyun was hoping were left overs from Jooheon’s boyfriend.

“Get any songs done?” Jooheon asked, Changkyun eyeing the container of food in his hand. He was going to ask if he’d actually gone home for break, seeing as the apartment was kind of a mess and there was a sink full of dishes, but Changkyun was.. Changkyun, and Jooheon decided it wasn’t his place to know. Even if he wanted to. 

“You sound like my mom.” Jooheon laughed at that and shrugged.

“Son, time we go fishing, huh?”

“Oh my god.” Changkyun groaned and got up, eyes still on the food. “Okay, _daddy_ , can I have some of that?” Changkyun asked, pointing at the food container. Jooheon turned the reddest shade of red that skin could get before promptly handing the food over with a huff and leaving the kitchen. Changkyun stood frozen for a moment wondering if he’d accidentally awoken a kink. He quickly decided he didn’t wanna know and focused on eating the heavenly meal Jooheon had brought home. 

After half the contents were gone, Jooheon returned after Changkyun was hoping wasn’t what he thought it was, his face back to its original color. “What’s your boyfriend’s name?” Changkyun asked, feeling bold, or maybe just giddy with the thought that he’d turned his roommate on by accident. Jooheon eyed him warily as he took a seat at the table across from Changkyun.

“Why?”

“I wanna thank him for the food. I swear to god if he’s the one who cooked this then we are having him over for dinner every night starting right now immediately.” Jooheon laughed and pulled out his phone, scrolling idiley while Changkyun finished eating. “Hyung, I’m serious.” 

Jooheon looked up and smiled. “You wanna meet him?” He asked, surprise hidden by his confident smirk. 

“I already have, I just mean like, _officially_. Does he know my name?” Changkyun asked. Jooheon nodded.

“Yeah, we talk about you sometimes.” Changkyun raised an eyebrow and didn’t know if he wanted to ask what they talk about that involves him. “All good things, I promise.” Jooheon reassured him, but the wink he threw in at the end made Changkyun seriously doubt that.

“I don’t wanna know. I _do_ wanna know what his name is though.”

“How about we invite him over tonight?” Changkyun’s eyes lit up and Jooheon laughed again. “You really wanna meet him, huh?”

Changkyun nodded his head. “Well, maybe I just want some good food too.” He added, because in all honesty he wanted Jooheon’s boyfriend over for two reasons. One, to see how Jooheon acts around someone who isn’t, well, him. Two, for the good food. And maybe kind of sort of because he’s been really lonely over break without Jooheon and having company over sounded like fun after about seven days of nothing but bad TV and ever worse ramen.

Jooheon smiled as he made a call, not bothering to leave the room like he usually does whenever he’s on the phone with his mystery man. The call was quick and ended with a sappy _mhmm, love you too. see ya soon_ which made Changkyun blush and Jooheon snicker. “He’ll be over real soon, but listen up okay?” Jooheon was suddenly serious and Changkyun was a little nervous. He nodded his head and Jooheon continued. “He is the sweetest boy I have ever met and I swear to god if you taint him I will not hesitate to kick you out and find a new roommate.” Changkyun wanted to argue that the the apartment was his as much as it was Jooheon’s, but the look he was giving him at the moment limited his speaking ability. 

“Hyuuuuung,” He whinned instead. “taint him?! Since when have I become some sort of monster that steals people's innocents to you?” Changkyun half teased, half complained. Because yes, Changkyun had technically met this guy before, but he didn’t seem too untainted with the way he shamelessly kissed Jooheon when he was occupying the same room as them. 

Jooheon’s seriousness disappeared and he lightly hit Changkyun. “I’m only half kidding. You just ate though, are you really going to eat dinner too?” Jooheon asked, watching Changkyun get up from his seat to stretch. 

“Hyung, I’m a growing child, I need all the home cooked meals I can get.” Changkyun argued. Jooheon poked his side and then the doorbell rang after they’d settled on the couch to watch fifteen minutes of some sort of commercial that never ends. 

Jooheon hopped off the couch and Changkyun felt his hands getting sweaty. Wait, why was he so damn nervous? This isn’t even his boyfriend, it’s Jooheon’s! Oh god, _what if he wants to shake hands?_ Changkyun listened to the soft exchange of words in the other room and flinched when Jooheon called for him. Jooheon was taking their guests jacket and hanging it up for him when Changkyun entered. 

“Changkyun, this is Minhyuk!” Jooheon introduced them brightly and as loud as ever. Minhyuk offered a shy smile and Changkyun understood then what he meant by ‘ _don’t taint him_ this boy was incredibly shy. He blushed before he even spoke and Jooheon rubbed his back in a comforting manner to encourage him to look up while he spoke. 

“H-Hi, nice to meet you.” Minhyuk greeted. Changkyun was usually the shy one, but in this case he felt like Jooheon compared to Minhyuk. Changkyun smiled and gave a small wave. Jooheon rolled his eyes and Changkyun groaned.

“What? I’m trying, okay.” Changkyun said. Jooheon pinched his side as he lead them both into the kitchen. Changkyun sat down while Jooheon showed Minhyuk how to work the stove and where what utensils were kept. Minhyuk had been over a million times by now, but it was dawning on Changkyun that he never really went anywhere other than Jooheon’s bedroom. Oh, huh.

Jooheon finished showing Minhyuk everything and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning back to Changkyun who had his eyes on Minhyuk, who was already chopping something up. He had put on a frilly apron and looked extremely cute. No wonder Jooheon was with this guy. Before Changkyun’s mind could wander to thoughts of if they’d ever had sex, Jooheon interrupted his thought process. Changkyun didn’t know if he was grateful or not. 

“I’m going to take a quick shower, keep Minhyuk company, okay? And try not to scare him.” Jooheon added the last part quickly, already gone to the bathroom before Changkyun could whine.  
Changkyun sat and watched Minhyuk working diligently for a little bit before he realised Minhyuk was probably going to be really creeped out if he didn’t say anything and just continued to stare like this. 

“Uh,” Changkyun spoke, earning Minhyuk’s attention who had stopped what he was doing to turn to look at Changkyun curiously. “I really like you.” Changkyun tried, failing miserably at what he meant to say. Minhyuk looked extremely flustered as Changkyun stood up and tried to fix what he said, hands waving. “No! I didn’t mean that!” Changkyun half yelled. Minhyuk’s eyes looked watery and he sniffled.

“Y- you _don’t_ like me?” Minhyuk asked, very concerned with Changkyun’s answer. Changkyun rushed over to Minhyuk and tried to calm him down. 

“No! I mean, yes! I like you, I do! I just, I like your cooking!” Changkyun assured him, Minhyuk sniffled again and Jooheon walked in the room, hair still wet. “Oh my god, hyung, I swear this is not what it seems like.” Changkyun started but was cut off by Jooheon moving in between him and Minhyuk before wrapping him in his arms. 

“I leave for ten minutes and you have him in tears?” Jooheon asks. Before Changkyun can even begin to explain, Minhyuk speaks up from where he was muffled into the crook of Jooheon’s neck. 

“H- he said he liked me and, and my cooking Joo, that’s all.” He stuttered. Jooheon gave Changkyun a questioning glance but nodded anyways. Changkyun breathed a sigh of relief when Jooheon stopped glaring at him and started to help Minhyuk cook. Maybe Changkyun didn’t miss being along so much after all.

 

❰ ❱

 

Dinner was good, really good, and to make up for the huge misunderstanding from earlier, Changkyun made sure to tell Minhyuk a million times throughout the meal. It had Minhyuk giggling and Jooheon rolling his eyes, but it made Changkyun feel better. After the dishes were all put into the sink, Changkyun yawned at the table and laid his head against the wood. 

It suddenly felt stuffy inside the apartment with the way Minhyuk kept whispering to Jooheon, and so Changkyun excused himself to his bedroom.

“It was really nice meeting you.” Changkyun said. Minhyuk smiled and with that Changkyun left to his room. He could hear Jooheon laugh and then the familiar sound of two set of feet walking down the hall and into Jooheon’s room. 

Not that he ever _was_ in the mood to, but Changkyun didn’t really feel like listening to them get it on through the not-so-thick walls of their shared apartment. So Changkyun looked around for his headphones. His eyes fell upon the umbrella and a little light went off in his head. Before Changkyun really knew what he was doing, he had his shoes on and was out the door, umbrella in hand.

 

❰ ❱

 

The walk to the store took a lot longer than Changkyun thought it would, the sun setting just when it came into view. He hadn’t realised it the other week when he had blindly ran to the building, but now that he was in no hurry he could take the time to notice how out of the way the place really was. It was small, paint chipping here and there at the walls outside. The sign at the top read ‘사랑 음악 시트에 빠지게‘ in gold lettering, tilted just slightly to the right in a way that Changkyun thought probably wasn’t on purpose. A red _open_ sign glowed in the window what was emitting the same pale yellow light that Changkyun remembered seeing inside. Changkyun hoped Kihyun was working tonight as he walked in.

The store was warm and Changkyun took in the smell of paper and looked to the register, it was empty. Walking further in, Changkyun noticed the place was empty. Weird. Should he leave? Would that be weird? Not that Kihyun would even find out, I meant he wasn’t even here- and oh wow since when did he care what some store clerk thought of him? This is getting out of hand.

Changkyun turned around to leave, maybe put the umbrella on top of the counter, but a noise coming from the back of the store had him frozen in place. It sounded like.. like someone going through stacks of paper.. which made sense given his current location. Changkyun turned around, again, and started towards the noise. Wait. What if that wasn’t Kihyun? What if it was a _robber_ and they try to kill him? Whoa, hold on. Changkyun contemplated whether or not he should leave immediately or save Kihyun’s shop from being robbed when someone emerged from the back of the store.

The guy screamed and it scared Changkyun so bad he screamed too, throwing the umbrella for good measure which made the guy scream again. It hit him in the head and he fell backwards, dropping an armful of sheet music as he hit the floor with a thud. Paper flew around the two stunned boys and all was eerily quiet while they both tried to figure out just what the _hell_ had happened. Changkyun was screaming a silent victory for stopping a robber while the guy laid unmoving.

Changkyun waited for the guy to get up, but after a few moments it became apparent that that wasn’t going to happen. Shit, _fuck_. Changkyun felt like crying. Did he just _murder_ someone?! Saving Kihyun’s shop was one thing, but _killing_ a man because he was stealing some sheet music was a completely different thing.

Just as Changkyun pulled out his phone to call Jooheon, or maybe the police, Kihyun walked in from the same back room that the guy had appeared from. He looked like he was just about to say something when he noticed the body laying the ground and the look of horror on Changkyun’s face.

“Oh my god, Kihyun, thank god! I- I think I killed him!” Changkyun wasn’t about to explain what ad exactly happened so long as there might be a dead person involved, so that was all he could really manage to get out before Kihyun put the pile of papers he was holding down and walking over to the guy. He kneeled down and calmly pressed two fingers to the guy's wrist. Changkyun let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as soon as Kihyun spoke.

“He’s just knocked out, don’t call the cops or anything.” Kihyun informed, eyeing the cell still in Changkyun’s hand. Changkyun nodded and swallowed thickly. Okay, so he hadn’t killed anyone. So far so good. “So, what happened?” Kihyun asked.

“Um, h- he was stealing those papers and so I- I threw the umbrella at him and then we were screaming a- and I thought I killed him..” Changkyun stopped talking when he noticed Kihyun was stifling a laugh. Changkyun’s hopeless look made him give up and he laughed loudly, so loudly in fact that the guy on the floor groaned and tried sitting up.

Kihyun was still laughing as he helped the guy up, completely disregarding the fact that Changkyun had just told him he was robbing sheet music from him. The guy rubbed the side of his head and glared at Changkyun confusingly.

“Kihyun who the heck is this guy?” And hey, that was Changkyun’s line. 

Kihyun managed to stop laughing and started picking up papers. “That’s a client, his name’s Changkyun. Changkyun, this is Hyungwon, my assistant.” Kihyun told him. Changkyun really wanted to go back in time and not tell Kihyun the part about thinking Hyungwon was a robber because, wow, he felt like _such_ an idiot.

“Oh.” Was all Changkyun could say at the moment and Kihyun didn’t seem to mind, too preoccupied with gathering papers which Hyungwon had also began to do. Changkyun felt awkward not doing anything, so he helped too and once the papers were back in a pile Kihyun instructed Hyungwon to take the papers to isle six while he guided Changkyun by the arm to the front of the store. 

After he’d gotten behind the counter, Kihyun took out Changkyun’s reserved book and sat it on the counter. “So, are you alright? I heard a few screams earlier. I mean I know Hyungwon’s kind of bad looking, but I didn’t think he was _that_ ugly.” Kihyun teased. Somewhere from aisle six they both heard Hyungwon shout some sort of disagreement that sounded like ‘ _as if_ , but he was too far away to be sure.

“Y- yeah I’m fine. Is he okay? I’m really, really sorry about that.” Changkyun apologized, bowing to make his point.

Kihyun laughed again and put his hand on Changkyun’s shoulder to get him to stop bowing. The touch sent a warm ripple through Changkyun’s body and he felt himself leaning into the touch. “Yeah, he recovered pretty fast, might have a headache later but I think he’s okay.” Changkyun nodded and only felt a little bit colder when Kihyun’s hand retracted. “You here for you book I take it?” Kihyun asked. 

“No. I uhm, I came to bring your umbrella back.” Changkyun explained. Kihyun smiled and thanked him. “I don’t have my wallet on me again, sorry.” 

“It’s fine! You have five more weeks, so no rush.” Kihyun replied. Changkyun nodded and without wanting to leave tried to think of something to say. Hyungwon beat them both to it.

“Hey, Chang.. whatever, is this yours?” Hyungwon asked, holding out the umbrella. Changkyun took it and handed it to Kihyun. 

Kihyun smiled and Hyungwon gave a knowing smirk before walking away. 

“Thanks.”

“For?” Kihyun questioned.

“The umbrella.” Changkyun said, not hiding his smile when Kihyun chuckled.

“No problem.” Kihyun said, still smiling. And oh wow. Changkyun _really_ needed to write a song about him, soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was this good??? someone give me feed back ;w; also, what's the ship name for jooheon x minhyuk??? unedited, ill fix errors later aha


	3. you looked cold

He taps relentlessly against his desk, staring at the paper in front of him.Writing a song about Kihyun was a lot harder than Changkyun had thought it would be. A dozen crumpled up papers with abandoned ideas scattering the desk. There was something there, a tune of some sort, a soft but powerful melody that played right outside of Changkyun’s reach. He could hear it, but it was too far away. He tapped his pen against the wooden desk and folded his arms, setting his head down and closing his eyes trying to picture Kihyun’s smile. It doesn’t take much time, the image is always there, really. Changkyun’s swears he even had dreams about this guy. The slightly ruffled orange hair, eye crinkling smile, bright white teeth; the picture was ingrained into Changkyun’s mind. Not that he minded. 

He hadn’t seen him in awhile, it’s been almost a week since he’d returned the umbrella, almost a whole week since he’d seen that smile. Maybe if he went and saw it, refresh his memory, Changkyun would be able to remember the tune he’d heard before. The days he hadn’t spent in class on the piano had been spent thinking of reasons to go back to the music shop, but now Changkyun remembered he actually _did_ have an excuse. He still had that book on hold. He didn’t really know what the book was about, or even the title of it, but he’d never tell Kihyun that.

Changkyun yawned and got up, heading straight for the door after pulling on his coat. It hadn’t snowed yet, but the air had that ice cold chill to it that made him think it would happen any day now. Jooheon was off somewhere, probably with Minhyuk, so he didn’t even have to worry about him asking where he was going. Not that saying _to a music sheet store_ would sound suspicious, or that Changkyun had anything to hide. It was just that Kihyun’s little shop was Changkyun’s current escape from reality at the moment and the last thing he wanted was for Jooheon to take Minhyuk there on a whim. He was always doing that, asking Changkyun for places to go on dates. He didn’t know why, he’d never really had a girlfriend or anything, so how should he know? Changkyun had asked, but in the end never got an answer. He wonders sometimes how someone like Minhyuk was with someone like Jooheon. The world works in mysterious ways.

Either way Changkyun had been grateful to have the place to himself. Gave him a chance to listen to music without his headphone. He thinks that if he ever got around to buying a keyboard to use at home he’d maybe play it even if Jooheon was around. Maybe he’d play for Minhyuk sometime, he was always curious about what he did cooped up in his bedroom all the time anyway.

The walk is long, or maybe it just seems long since it’s so damn cold out. By the time the shop is in viewing distance, Changkyun swears his hands are so numb he could cut them off without feeling a thing. Not that that would be a good idea if he wanted to continue making music. 

The first thing Changkyun notices when he walks inside is that there’s actually people. The previous times he’d stopped by it had just been him, save for Hyungwon the assistant who he’d had a brief interaction with. Said assistant was currently helping a small group of girls find a specific item while two guys were checking out at the counter. Changkyun noticed that it wasn’t Kihyun at the register, but someone else, someone he didn’t know. 

“Kihyun’s in the back.” Hyungwon said, not looking up from the pile of books he was now sorting through, the group of girls gone. Changkyun opened his mouth to protest, to make sure Hyungwon didn’t think he’d come here _just_ to see Kihyun. But then again, he wasn’t really wrong, and by the blush Changkyun could feel, Hyungwon probably already knew that. So Changkyun muttered a quick thanks and ended up quickly walking towards the back, to the door labeled EMPLOYEES ONLY, and only felt a little weird as he walked in. 

The room was bright, way to bright in Changkyun’s opinion, and really full. Full of books. Everywhere. Paper too, of all sorts. Printing paper with nothing on them, sheet music paper, paper with pianos, oboes, flutes, violins and guitars printed in black, even a few odd pictures of instruments that even Changkyun couldn’t name. The entire room was full of these two things. The air smelled like a book store but looked like the factory that made them. 

Kihyun was nowhere that he could see. Changkyun walked further in, biting his lip nervously as he went. Was he even in the right backroom? Were there more than one? Changkyun was thinking about going back out to the front and asking Hyungwon when he spotted a door. It was cracked open but the lights were off so he couldn’t see what was inside. Maybe he could take a peak before going to find Kihyun. 

Changkyun walked in and immediately started groping the wall in attempt to find a light switch. All he managed to do though was hit his foot of something, making him curse under his breath. A moment later there was a click and light flooded the room. Changkyun looked around and noticed he was in a corner facing the walls, so he turned around. There sat Kihyun, in a bed, half naked, staring at him through squinted half asleep eyes. Thanks Hyungwon, for the heads up. 

“Changkyun?” Kihyun’s voice was thick and deep with sleep and Changkyun swallowed hard. He was hot, he had _freaking abs_. This whole thing was weird. The entire situation was starting to become surreal. He’d come for a book, not to see the hot shop owner half naked in his own bed. Though, Changkyun wasn’t too sure he was upset about it. Kihyun yawned and layed back down, pulling the covers over himself and sighing, sticking one hand out to switch the light off. 

The room was devoid of light once more and Changkyun stood in the dark for a moment. Kihyun’s voice searched through the black and into his range or hearing. “Either get out, or get in.” Get _in?_ Get in _where?_ The only thing he could possibly be talking about was the bed and Changkyun was going to be damned if he wasn’t going to take the only chance he was probably ever going to get to lay in a bed with Kihyun. Sure it was dark and he wouldn’t be able to see his breathtaking smile, but this was once again something he wasn’t too sure he was upset about. 

With nothing but memory to go on from the brief overlook of the room he’d seen a minute ago, Changkyun made his way to the bed and stood there a moment. How exactly was he going to do this..? Just- just crawl in? Should he ask? Before he could contemplate any longer, a hand reached out and pulled him down. Another hand covered him with the blanket and before Changkyun could really take in the situation, he was already tangled up with Kihyun. The bed had looked bigger, but now that he was on it he felt like it was much too small for two. His legs kept bumping with Kihyun’s until Kihyun had apparently had enough, putting one leg in between Changkyun’s to hold them still while snaking an arm around his middle. Changkyun was glad for the darkness, he was sure he was bright red.

“Looked cold..” Kihyun mumbled, hot breath ghosting over his neck. He wasn’t wrong. Changkyun’s fingers still felt numb and as Kihyun took his hands into his own, it was like he knew. They stayed like that for awhile. Changkyun didn’t know how long, but by the time Kihyun spoke again he’d zoned out. Not asleep, but not really awake either.

“Did Hyungwon send you?” He asked Changkyun, who nodded and then stuttered out a yes upon remembering it was dark and that Kihyun couldn’t see him. “Figures.” Kihyun’s voice made his heart stop beating.

“He didn’t tell me your room was back here, he just said you were ‘in the back’. Changkyun tried correcting. Kihyun just laughed and Changkyun’s heart started beating again. Kihyun sighed and leaned away from Changkyun, switching the light back on and scooting away. 

“Sorry for pulling you into bed like that, you just looked so cold.” Kihyun apologised. Changkyun sat up and stared anywhere but at Kihyun’s exposed stomach. 

“D-don’t be.” 

Kihyun raised a brow and laughed. “Hm, next time I’m charging you though. I think giving away my warming services for free too often might put me out of business.” He teased. Changkyun bit his lip and as Kihyun slowly got out of bed and threw on a shirt, Changkyun noticed the rough deepness in his voice hadn’t gone away, and that he looked pale. 

“Are you sick?” Changkyun asked. Kihyun froze momentarily, as if he’d just been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. He quickly pulled his shirt all the way on and cleared his throat. 

“Might be getting a cold, I’ll be fine.” His voice was a little stiff. “Did you come for your book?” And then the atmosphere was back to normal. Changkyun was surprised at how easy it was to fall into conversation with him despite their new friendship. Or at least Changkyun hoped he was at least that to Kihyun. They talked about the book on their way out of the backroom, Kihyun locking it when they were out. 

“Is that sex hair I see Kihyunnie?” Hyungwon asked, walking up to Kihyun and ruffling his hair. Kihyun smacked his hand away and grimaced. 

“Don’t call me that in front of our clients.” Kihyun huffed, walking past them both and over to the register. Hyungwon winked and went back to where he was now hanging up a line of piano stands. Changkyun briefly wondered if they sold keyboards before he was being called over by Kihyun. 

Kihyun smiled and it was hard not to notice how tired he looked. He felt bad about waking him up. However, what Kihyun lacked in energy he made up with his enthusiasm as he introduced Changkyun with the guy behind the register.

“Shownu, this is Changkyun.” Changkyun smiled and Shownu surprised him by taking his hand. He shook firmly and wow he was strong. Kihyun laughed at Shownu’s eagerness and leaned against the counter. 

“Hi.” Changkyun greeted. People were definitely not his thing. Kihyun came to his rescue quickly.

“Changkyun’s our new regular, so make sure you treat him well.” Kihyun teased Shownu who nodded along, taking every word seriously. Changkyun blushed and shuffled his feet. Kihyun walked behind the counter and patted Shownu on the shoulder. “You can take off, I’m gonna close up in about twenty minutes anyway.” Kihyun told him. Shownu nodded and removed his name tag, placing it in the same bin Changkyun had once seen Kihyun put his into. He left a minute later, Hyungwon in tow, both waving their goodbyes. Kihyun yawned as he pulled out the familiar book. 

“Do you have your money with you today?” Kihyun joked. Changkyun shyly nodded and took out his wallet. As he counted out the correct amount Kihyun sighed and placed the money into the register. “I was kind of hoping you didn’t.”

“Why is that?” Changkyun asked, feeling a little braver about speaking now that Hyungwon and Shownu had left. For some reason he felt like anything he said to Kihyun with them around would be mocked. Kihyun seemed comfortable with them though, so maybe he should give them a chance. He kind of owed Hyungwon anyways, seeing that he’d attacked him with an umbrella before he’d even knew his name.

“Because then you would have to come back again.” Kihyun deadpanned. Changkyun suddenly couldn’t speak. “That sounded weird, but you’re like my only customer. Today was the first time anyone besides you came by.” Of course. Changkyun felt stupid, of course it had to do with him buying things. It’s not like Kihyun would _actually_ miss him if he stopped coming by. 

Changkyun didn’t want this to be the last time he came by, though. Even if Kihyun wasn’t going to miss him he felt like he was going to miss Kihyun. “I’d be back anyways,” Changkyun says, not missing the way Kihyun flashes a bright smile and then tries to hide it behind his sleeve. “Because I’m in the need of some more blank sheet music. I ran out.” That was a lie. He had an entire book shelf practically full of them, and even if he didn’t his teacher always told him he was more than welcomed to take some from the school's supplies.

Kihyun licked over his chapped lips and grinned. “Well, we definitely have a lot of that.” Changkyun grinned back. They stood like that for a few moments and Changkyun realized that this is always how it went. Standing at the counter staring at Kihyun with nothing to say, but not wanting to go. Kihyun must have felt the same, or at least Changkyun willed himself to think so when he asked if he wanted to hang out while he sorted some things.

“Yeah, I have nowhere to be anyways.”

And so that’s how Changkyun ended up sitting on the floor across from Kihyun in his bedroom. Papers messily spread out between them. Kihyun had said they were for him to read and sign, but he was just going through and signing them. After what seemed like an hour of Kihyun silently signing and Changkyun flipping through his new purchase, Kihyun signed on the last dotted line. 

Stretching out, Kihyun yawned and leaned forward, resting his head on Changkyun’s leg. Changkyun almost jerked, but caught himself. It was slowing becoming very clear that Kihyun was a touchy person. Changkyun wondered if he was like this Hyungwon too.

“What are these papers for anyways?” Changkyun asked, choosing his words carefully because he didn’t want to press for answers he didn’t need to know. Kihyun sat up and Changkyun instantly missed the warmth. 

“Just legal things, settling into this new place.” Kihyun answered, gesturing around them at the room.

“You mean this shop just opened?” Changkyun asked. Kihyun nodded with a snort.

“Does it _look_ like I’ve lived here for a long time?” He asked. And Kihyun was right, as Changkyun looked around he did notice it didn’t really look like anyone had lived here for almost anytime at all. The room was big, bigger than any bedroom Changkyun had ever seen, he guessed that maybe it wasn’t an actual bedroom but rather some sort of storage place. It had no windows and there weren’t really any decorations. Just piles of boxes all around. The only indication that it _was_ a bedroom at all was the bed itself, sitting on the far side of the room. 

Kihyun stifled a yawn and gave a longing glance to his bed. Changkyun got the feeling he wanted to go to sleep, but the more selfish part of him wanted to keep talking to Kihyun. “So why did you move here, if you don’t mind me asking?” Changkyun added the last bit so that Kihyun could choose whether he wanted to answer or not.

“It was cheaper than my old place. Plus I’ve always wanted to open a music store.”

“You really like music then?” Changkyun asked.

“Love it. My passion, if you will.” Kihyun looked like he was reminiscing, eyes twinkling with some sort of bitter happiness. 

“But.. you don’t play, right? So you just like to listen?” Changkyun inquired. Kihyun shook his head and his eyes lit up. Invisible notes floated through the air and Changkyun could almost hear a song.

“No, actually I sing.”

“You do?”

“I did.”

“So not anymore?”

“Yeah,” Kihyun looked sad with that being said and Changkyun wanted to take the question back. He held his tongue and waited, hoping Kihyun would tell him why, but he didn’t, so Changkyun didn’t ask. “It’s a bit late, isn’t it?” Kihyun asked. Changkyun took out his phone.

“Nine fifteen.” He’d just spent half the day in Kihyun’s room and it all had passed like minutes. “I had fun, thanks.” Changkyun said, standing up. Kihyun reach a hand up and Changkyun took it, pulling him up. They ended up face to face, hands still touching. Kihyun blinked and took a step back. Changkyun let his hand go.

“And thank you for hanging out with me on a boring afternoon.” Kihyun said. He walked over to his bed and sat down. Changkyun was about to say goodbye, but Kihyun spoke at the same time.

“Do you want to sta-” He stopped though once realizing he’d interrupted. “Sorry, go on.”

“I was just saying bye. What did you say?” 

Kihyun looked down and wiggled his feet. “Nothing, goodnight. I’ll come lock the door after you’re out.” Changkyun wanted to hear the rest of that sentence, but Kihyun looked tired, and even paler than earlier. He was definitely sick.

“Okay.” Changkyun walked towards the door, grabbing his book and his coat, sliding it on and zipping it up. “Get better soon.” He said, smiling and closing the door after him. He could have sworn he heard Kihyun say something. It had sound like _’i wish i could_ , but that wouldn’t have made any sense. 

But nothing in Changkyun’s life ever made any sense and so he walked out of the store, heading home with a new tune in his head. Kihyun’s song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a long break lol. but um did you guys hear???? our boys won their first award!!!! i am so so proud of them (': wonho couldn't even finish his speech he was too emotional and he was crying, i was crying, were you crying???? also a reminder: vote mx for mama! (i wont hate you if you dont) just a reminder to vote in general lmao. anyways, thanks for reading (:


	4. starry eyes

It’s 3AM and Changkyun’s only three words into his english poem assignment. He had started the night working on Kihyun’s song, but had only written half a page before he’d realized it didn’t sound the way he wanted. He tried spending the rest of the time working it out on an online keyboard but that didn’t go nearly as smooth as when he had an actual piano in front of him, and he gave up. He should _really_ buy a keyboard. He was now doing actual homework, but getting nowhere, the pile of crumpled poems sitting in the trash to prove it. Though honestly, who even cares at this point? He’s had three cups of coffee and he had the music up so loud in his headphones that he didn’t hear Jooheon knocking, and sleep deprived as he was, he didn’t notice him enter the room.

“Hyung!” Changkyun yelled, throwing his headphones off and grasping at his shirt. “You scared me!” Jooheon snorted and his eyes turned into slim crescents. It looked like he just rolled out of bed, obnoxious red hair everywhere and plaid sleep pants. It was cute in a comical way. Changkyun briefly thought about what Kihyun looked like when he woke up. The thought made him grimace and Jooheon laughed, louder than Changkyun thought appropriate for 3AM.

“You look upset.” He stated. “Are you?” Jooheon pressed. Changkyun sighed and leaned back into his chair. Was he? He hadn’t gotten a song written in over a week, his english test was coming up and he hadn’t had a chance to practice having conversations, and _now_ he’d wasted all night writing bad poems and attempting to write music. 

“Yeah,” Changkyun rubs his eyes. “I guess you could say that.” Jooheon’s eyes flash a look of sympathy, but before Changkyun can blink, it’s gone. Jooheon leans down to pick up a scrap paper, uncrumpling it and reading over it. Changkyun gets up to grab it, but Jooheon’s quicker. 

“ _Perfect smile, pretty face, wanna see you dressed in … lace_?” Changkyun freezes half way to grabbing the paper. Too late. Jooheon’s face is blank, and then a sly smirk creeps onto his face. “You’re writing poetry about girls at three in the morning?” Jooheon asks, raising both brows. 

Changkyun snatches the paper out of his hyungs hands, crumpling it back up and shoving into the trash with a very red face. Jooheon starts eyeing his notebook, so before he has a chance to read anything else he’s written about this ‘girl’, he begins ushering him out of the room.. “Hyung! It’s late, just stop and go back to bed!”

“Stop what?” Jooheon teases. 

“Ruining my life,” Changkyun replies, rolling his eyes for good measurement. “Now seriously, get out of my room.” Jooheon allows himself to be pushed out into the hall, looking pretty pleased with himself. Changkyun starts to close the door in his face, but Jooheon’s foot sticks out and prevents it from shutting. Changkyun groans in annoyance. “Seriously?” 

Jooheon chuckles, eyes in that eternal moony shape, before moving his foot, but holding the door open with a hand. “I actually came by because I heard you were up, but now I kind of have something to ask you,” Jooheon says, switching from a teasing hyung to the shy Jooheon he only ever sees whenever Minhyuk is around. So this must be about him, either that or Changkyun’s brain is so sleep deprived that he’s starting to imagine things. It could be both. “Me and Minhyuk bought tickets for a play this weekend, but it turns out he’s kind of sick.”

Changkyun just stared. “So?”

Jooheon sighs heavily. “So, you could… ya know. Take them and go with the pretty lady you’re writing about.” Changkyun doesn’t know what’s more appalling. The fact that Jooheon thinks he’s straight, or that he thinks he has the guts to ask _anyone_ out on a date. 

“Uh. I-”

“Great,” Jooheon interrupts, already moving. “I’ll go get them, be right back.” And then Changkyun’s standing there. Confused, still slightly embarrassed, and very tired. Jooheon comes back, two promised tickets in hand, and hands them over. “It’s _Tainted Love_ , I think it’s romantic, so like.. she’ll like it I guess. You can kiss her afterwards, you know.” Wow, if Changkyun had an award for best awkward date advice, he’d give it to Jooheon.

“Thanks?” It comes out sounding like a question, and it kind of was, but Jooheon mistook for sincerity; probably due to the hour of morning it was. He nods, smiles a sleepy grin, and then leaves Changkyun alone once more. 

Changkyun looks up a summary of the play, finding it be about a couple who end up breaking up. Yeah, great for the first date. Changkyun thinks about throwing away the tickets, but the more he thinks about it, the more he wonders if Kihyun likes plays at all. Maybe he could exchange these for a musical instead. He’ll check tomorrow, though. Because it’s late and he thinks he might pass out if he doesn’t close his eyes soon.

He dreams of Kihyun breaking up with him, waking in the morning and laughing because they aren’t even dating. But secretly, it still scares him a little anyway.

 

❰ ❱

 

“You haven’t turned in a song this week. Are you ill? You could maybe get a few done this weekend to make up for it. ” Changkyun’s professor tells him. She’d pulled him aside after class had ended. Changkyun knew instantly that she’d ask him exactly that. Wonho had given him a pat on the back and _good luck with that_ look, leaving with the rest of the class. Changkyun packed his bag slowly, trying to think of how to answer her, but out of all the excuses he’d thought of a few minutes ago, he could tell by the sharp look in her eyes that none of them were going to work. It was clear when he joined the class that she liked him for his talent, not him. So of course she needed to know where the music was, and not how he _actually_ was. He also knew he needed to get something turned in. Soon.

“Uh, no. I’ve had..” Changkyun pauses, racking his brain for words. “A block! Yes, a block! And uh, I can’t think of what to write. So, I’ll..” She stares at him expectantly, eyes narrowed. “Turn something in on Monday?” Changkyun half asks, half pleads. He needs to keep up his straight A’s if he has any hopes of getting the job he wants. Thankfully though, she nods, signaling her approval and then walking to her desk and ending the conversation. 

Changkyun wastes no time taking his own leave, greeted with sharp wind and a sky full of what looks like rain clouds. He finds out a moment later that that’s exactly what they were. Soft but icey cold water droplets start pelting him, and in an instant he’s soaked. 

A voice calling out from somewhere behind him grabs his attention, turning around fully and spotting the familiar face of Hyungwon. The tall blonde waves him over from under a bright yellow umbrella, and so Changkyun rushes towards him, giving a thankful smile once safely under the protective plastic. Even if he’s already soaked, Changkyun appreciates the gesture. 

“You headin’ to the shop?” Hyungwon asks as they begin walking. It’s really cold out and Changkyun hopes he isn’t shaking. Hyungwon is in only a light jacket, but he looks at ease, the casual way he walks is as if it’s a summer day. Changkyun also notices he’s not wearing any shoes. Huh.

“Er, no. I um, I just got out of class, I was heading h-”

“Nonsense! Come by the store.” Hyungwon waves his hand at a young boy who gives them both _do I know you?_ looks that tells Changkyun that Hyungwon doesn’t know him. “Kihyun’s been kinda down, probably because you haven’t stopped by in awhile.” Hyungwon keeps talking, so Changkyun keep listening, walking carefully to avoid the possibility of stepping on the pair of bare feet beside him. “I think you two seem like good friends. Kihyun even said- HEY! SHOWNU!” Hyungwon stops, shouting at the figure across the street. It’s getting dark out and Changkyun doesn’t realize it’s actually Shownu until he walks over and the street light shines down, reflecting off his rain-shiny poncho. Although he’d only met him once, hearing the name coming from Hyungwon rang a bell. He looked awake, hair wet and dripping with every step closer.

“Oh, hey guys.” Shownu says, way to casual and relaxed and not saying anything about Hyungwon’s lack of shoes. “Heading to Kihyun’s?” He asks. Hyungwon nods and elbows Changkyun in the side. 

“Starry eyes is coming with.” Hyungwon adds. Shownu shares a knowing smile with Hyungwon and Changkyun feels like he missed something.

“Starry eyes? Is that me?” Changkyun asks. Hyungwon opens his mouth to say something but Shownu smacks his arms and gives a shove to both him and Changkyun.

“Shh!”

“But the way he looks at him! It’s like sta- Ow!” Hyungwon rubs his arm, and pouts. Shownu just looks ahead and continues walking. The streets are emptying out and Changkyun finds himself suddenly lost within all the little things he notices around himself while they walk, with Shownu and Hyungwon’s chitchat acting as background noise as they move along. A small group of highschool kids sit in an empty parking lot, and an elderly couple sits at the bus stop waiting out the rain. Save for the two people further down, the three boys are the only ones occupying the sidewalk. Changkyun wonders if he really looks at Kihyun with stars in his eyes. Or was Hyungwon saying Kihyun looked at _him_ with stars in _his_ eyes? Changkyun decided to forget it, it didn’t make much sense, _Hyungwon_ didn’t make much sense.

Lost in his thoughts, Changkyun ends up almost walking right by the little music store, only stopping because Hyungwon had grabbed his arm. “Ah ah ah, not so fast, starry eyes, we’re here now so you might as well come in.” Hyungwon says. Changkyun doesn’t even get a chance to explain that he hadn’t even meant to walk by, but Shownu’s hold the door open and Hyungwon’s pulling him in. 

“Oh,” Kihyun watches the ordeal from the counter. “Hi Changkyun.” Changkyun hears Hyungwon whisper something that sounds like _see? stars! it’s like we’re not even here when he’s around_ , but he doesn’t comment on it, he’s too distracted. Kihyun’s smile is bright still, but the rest of him looks.. tired? Also, the fact that he’s in a thin white cotton t-shirt, doesn’t make him think any clearer. It sounds like Hyungwon and Shownu are making more starry eye comments from a couple aisles over, but Changkyun doesn’t care, all he wants right now is to get out some paper and start writing, because with the main source of his latest inspiration right here in front of him, Kihyun’s song his playing full blast in his head. “Wanna hang out in the back? You look like you’re freezing.” Kihyun asks. Changkyun doesn’t think he can open his mouth without saying, ‘ _you’re so hot oh my god_ , so he settles for nodding.

Kihyun flashes another bright, heart warming smile, and walks out from behind the counter. As they make their way to the back, he lets Shownu know he’s on register, handing him his name tag. Hyungwon is grinning and Changkyun doesn’t hear what he says to Shownu as Kihyun closes the back door behind them. Kihyun’s room is warm, and Changkyun openly tells him so. “It’s really cozy, yeah.” Kihyun agrees. He sit on the bed and smiles. It sends a spark of something through Changkyun, and even though he’s chilled from the rain, he swears he felt warm for a moment. “You still look like you’re freezing,” Kihyun talks while picking at his sweats. “I didn’t wanna ask out there, but do you want a change of clothes?” He asks. Changkyun likes how when Kihyun blushes he doesn’t look near as pale, almost like it makes his skin look colored artificially. It’s a good look. He thinks about voicing that out loud, but doesn’t.

“What size are you?” Changkyun asks instead. Kihyun looks up, he seems relieved Changkyun didn’t say no. Kihyun laughs, _heart attack number one._ He gets up and walks over to one of the many unpacked cardboard boxes, digging through and coming out a minute later with sweats and a really big jacket. 

“This should fit,” Kihyun hands them over. “You can change in here, I’ll step outside for a minute.” Changkyun nods with a little bow and Kihyun shuts his door behind him. Once clicked closed, Changkyun wastes no time throwing off the cold, wet clothes and pulling the new articles of clothing over his body. He feels a little warmer immediately, but he still feels chilled. How has it not snowed yet? Changkyun waits for Kihyun to come back in, but he must think Changkyun takes ten minutes to get dressed, so he passes the time by doing a bit of looking around. 

Kihyun’s room is still rather bare, boxes still on the same spots as they were on his last visit. His wall has a few pictures of famous composers hanging from it, but other than that, nothing looks any different. One box is sticking out from under the corner of the bed, and Kihyun isn’t back yet, so Changkyun pulls it out and opens it.

There’s a lot of pill bottles, Changkyun notes immediately, lots of them. Some of them feel empty, but most of them are at least partly full. Changkyun sees a paper laying on the bottom, but a knock on the door has him closing the box and pushing it under the bed before he can read it.

“Are you decent?” Kihyun’s voice calls through the door. It’s muffled, but Changkyun hears him just fine. He nods, immediately feeling stupid because Kihyun can’t see him, and then shouts out a yes. “Sorry, Hyungwon didn’t wear his shoes outside again and the idiot got cut on something,” Kihyun explains, taking a seat on his bed again. Changkyun can’t tell if he’s noticed that the box isn’t peeking out from under the bed anymore. He hopes not. “So I had to bandage him up.” Kihyun finishes. 

Changkyun nods along and smiles. Kihyun doesn’t say anything for awhile and Changkyun almost feels awkward. “Are you still freezing?” Kihyun asks. Changkyun shakes his head, but Kihyun doesn’t look like he believes him. “C’mon, you can sit up here with me. My blanket is heated.” Changkyun all hesitant and after a split second of doubt wearily gets onto the bed. Kihyun laughs, _heart attack number two_ , and throws the cover over their sitting body's. “Better?” Changkyun nods, and this time means it. The warmth from the heated blankets warms his freezing skin at once. 

“Mmmm, feels so nice. Thanks hyung.” Changkyun burrows further into the covers, earning another laugh, _and heart attack number three_ , from Kihyun. 

“Yeah, I get cold a lot, so I know how good that must feel after being out in the rain.” Kihyun says. Suddenly, Changkyun feels a little sleepy, so he just nods and closes his eyes, just for a little bit. Kihyun keeps talking, about the weather, about how he gets more regular customers now thanks to Shownu and Hyungwon spreading the news about the store, just about everything that he’s been up to lately.

Changkyun doesn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he opens his eyes and Kihyun is just sitting there, not talking, and watching him with an affectionate look. It’s then that Changkyun knows what Hyungwon was talking about, with the stars. Kihyun’s eyes are so bright, full of so many beautiful things, Changkyun thinks he can see a whole galaxy in them. 

He moves to get up, maybe wake himself up some, but Kihyun just scoffs softly and holds him down, running his hands through Changkyun’s hair. “It’s fine, you look really comfortable.” Kihyun tells him. Changkyun lies back down, but keeps his eyes open. He wants to ask Kihyun if he has any stars in _his_ eyes, but he’s too afraid the answer might be no. At least he doesn’t have to worry about classes tomorrow. It’ll be the weekend. Which reminds him..

“Wanna come see a play with me tomorrow?” Changkyun asks, eyes still closed, ready for a no. It’s silent for a moment and the hands in his hair go still for a moment. Changkyun breathes again when they start moving again.

“Sure,” Kihyun answers. Changkyun hides his smile under the cover. “What is it called?”

“It’s called _Tainted Love_.” It’s quiet again and Changkyun starts to fall asleep. Just before he’s out, he thinks he hears Kihyun laugh again. 

Changkyun dreams of heart attacks and pill bottles. 

 

❰ ❱

 

A/N you can read _Tainted Love_ here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bless the goodness that is my beta <3 hope you liked this chapter! updates are about to happen a whoooole lot quicker now, so please look forward to them! (: thanks for all the kudos and sweet comments!!!! *kisses for all my lovely readers, even the silent ones*


	5. kiss me, wake me up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never too old to play princess, apparently.

Changkyun slowly wakes up, eyes opening to an unfamiliar room before jolting straight out of bed. Kihyun’s head sticks out of the covers where, Changkyun assumes he _had_ to have been laying right beside him, orange hair sticking up in all the wrong places but somehow looking good. “You okay?” Kihyun asks, his voice sounding like heaven, like in his dream. Changkyun is now acutely aware that he’d jumped right out of bed and was now sitting the floor.

“Uh, yeah.” Changkyun replies, dumbfounded. Kihyun yawns and hums before pulling the covers over his head. He begins talking, but it’s muffled from the material. Changkyun’s still pretty sure it sounds like heaven. 

“Mmm, good. What time is it?” Kihyun asks. Changkyun doesn’t answer right away, still not done processing that he’d just spent the night at Kihyun’s. In his room. In his bed. With him. Kihyun. He was still doubting this was real life when he answered, sure he was still dreaming.

Changkyun gets on his feet and bashfully sits on the very edge of the bed, careful not to touch Kihyun who has now spread out over the entire thing. Kihyun peeked out of the covers, obviously thinking Changkyun wasn’t looking, and so Changkyun pretended not to notice. He looks at the clock Kihyun has on a table. “It’s.. one. Did you need to do something today?” Changkyun asks. It’s late in the afternoon, that means he just spent the day sleeping with Kihyun. Huh. 

Kihyun yawns again and Changkyun thinks even small noises such as these sound like little pieces of heaven too. “No, the store isn't open on weekends. Did you?”

“Nope.”

“Is it too late for _Tainted Love_?”

Changkyun thinks back to when Jooheon mentioned the time of the play. “No,” Changkyun says, standing again and looking around for his school bag which is laying on the floor by the door. He walks over to it, kneeling down and starts digging around in one of the pockets. “I think if we hurry we can make it.” 

“When’s it start?” Kihyun asks, sitting up and letting the covers fall off. Changkyun finds the tickets and holds them up to read. 

“It says one twenty.” Changkyun tells him, walking over and handing him the tickets for Kihyun to look at. “We could make it.” 

Kihyun smirks. “Yeah, if we run.” Kihyun says, pocketing the tickets, and hoping out of bed. 

“Alright.” Changkyun says, Kihyun already halfway out of the room. He’s being weird, Changkyun thinks, laughing a little to himself. Either way, he walks over to the door and grabs his shoes from where he’d taken them off from last night. Last night.. had been pretty nice. Changkyun pauses, smiling while thinking of how good it felt to sleep in such a warm bed. With Kihyun. Changkyun doesn’t think he’ll ever get over that. 

Changkyun slips his shoes on and follows Kihyun out the door. It takes a bit of searching around for Kihyun to find where his shoes were. It seemed that Hyungwon had been messing around with them. When Changkyun asked why, Kihyun had shrugged and tied them on. “I never know with that one.” He answered. “What time is it?”

Changkyun glances at the front desks clock. “One ten.”

“Do you know where this play is at?” Kihyun asks, walking out the door and motioning for Changkyun to follow. He does. They go outside and it’s cold. Really, really cold. Kihyun shivers and Changkyun wants with all his heart to keep him warm. His cheeks aren’t even red from the wind, he looks pale, and sick. For a moment an image of all those pill bottles flashes in Changkyun’s mind.

“You know what,” Changkyun says. “It’s too far away to make it in time. We should stay here.” Kihyun looks kind of relieved, but also worried.

“Are you sure?” Kihyun asks, nervously looking off in the distance as if he can see the play from here. Changkyun nods. “You.. you’d really rather hang out in a boring music store?” Kihyun continues asking. Changkyun nods again and holds the door open. 

“Mhmm.” They both walk in and Changkyun lets the heat surround him. It’s dark outside already, clouds gathering in the sky and he thinks it’s going to rain anyways. “Besides,” Changkyun adds, taking off his shoes and heading to Kihyun’s room. “I have an idea.”

Kihyun laughs when Changkyun returns from his bedroom with a pile of pillows and all the blankets he could find. Changkyun smiles back and relishes in the feeling of making such a beautiful person smile. Though Kihyun still looks pale, which is why Changkyun is now placing the pillows on the floor, almost completely covering part of aisle seven. “Sit.” Changkyun commanded to a still laughing Kihyun.

“What are you-” But Kihyun doesn’t finish his question. Stopping as Changkyun grabs a random book off the shelf, it’s about pianos, and throws the blankets over their heads. It’s warm, very warm, and Changkyun is almost content with it being dark and warm under the covers, but he figures Kihyun probably wants to know what he’s doing. Light glows around them as Changkyun takes out his phone. 

Kihyun looks like he’s holding back another laugh as Changkyun crosses his legs and opens the book onto his lap. “Not boring, right?” Changkyun says. Kihyun doesn’t hold back this laugh and Changkyun doesn’t think it’s funny, but he laughs too. 

“So,” Kihyun says, calmed down. “What are we doing making pillow forts in the piano aisle?” Changkyun wants to tell him that it’s to keep him warm, and also wants to ask about the pills, but he doesn’t. 

“I wanted to hear you sing something. Since we missed the play and all. You owe me a performance.” Changkyun tells him.

Kihyun scoffs, playfully hitting Changkyun’s thigh. “And who’s fault is that? You looked pretty content to sleep in my bed all day if I would have let you.” He keeps his hand there. 

“Yeah, well.. It was warm! It’s getting cold out. Now sing something. Here, I have a book of songs right here, you can choose.” Changkyun hands the book over and Kihyun has to take his hand off Changkyun’s thigh to hold it. His leg feels a little cold where Kihyun’s hand had been.

“It wasn’t a musical though.” Kihyun points out, raising a brow at Changkyun who looks a little guilty. 

“Okay then, how about you put on a short play.” Changkyun replies. Kihyun laughs. 

“Oh I don’t think you want to see me act.”

“I think I do.” Changkyun says, smiling. Kihyun rolls his eyes and that’s when Changkyun knows he’s won.

“Alright, what play should I do?” Kihyun asks. Changkyun takes a moment to choose.

“Well,” Changkyun starts. “We slept almost all day, so how about sleeping beauty.”

Kihyun shifts a fraction of an inch closer. “What scene?” 

“When the princess wakes up! That’s my favorite part.” Changkyun answers right away, not really thinking about it. Kihyun’s cheeks are red, Changkyun feels like it could be the warmth, or maybe something else. He doesn’t know what, though.

“Doesn’t she.. doesn’t she have to be kissed to wake up? I would need a prince.” Kihyun says, voice a little softer than before, Changkyun thinks he might have moved another inch closer. It was probably in his head though. 

It’s quiet for a moment, and Changkyun can hear the rain hitting off the roof. He was right, it had looked like rain. Both boys sat quiet in thought of what to do, then Changkyun thought of something. Shyly, and most definitely with a blush red face, he voiced his idea.

“I- I could be the prince.”

Kihyun licks his bottom lip. “You could. If you don’t mind..?” Kihyun says, the end of his sentence sounds a little bit like a question and so Changkyun wordlessly nods his head. “Okay. Tell me how it goes.” Kihyun says, sucking in a breath. Changkyun nods again.

“Lay down, like in the movie.” Changkyun directs. Kihyun moves, laying upwards, hands at his side. Changkyun thinks back to the movie, reaching out and taking Kihyun’s hands, crossing them over his chest. “It’s how it goes.” Changkyun says upon Kihyun’s questioning look. 

“Now what?” Kihyun asks. Changkyun bites the inside of his cheek.

“Close your eyes.” 

“Okay.”

Changkyun takes a second to really _look_ at Kihyun. His lips look soft, his breathing a little quick with anticipation. He looks pretty, like a princess actually. Changkyun wants to tell him that, but he wants to kiss him more. No more wasting time. “Um,” Changkyun says. Kihyun peeks through one eye.

“What?”

“I- I have to kiss you now.” Changkyun stutters. Kihyun closes his eye again, softly laughing.

“I know. Go ahead. It’s how the story goes, right?” He asks. Changkyun nods to himself. Right. It’s how the story goes.

Changkyun moves slowly, wetting his lips and then leaning in. Kihyun’s breath hitches and Changkyun’s just about to close the final distance between them when a loud bang makes him jerk back. Kihyun’s eyes shoot open and he throws the covers off, sitting up and looking around. There’s another loud bang and 

Kihyun gets up, groaning. “I swear to god if that’s Hyungwon I’m going to fire him.” Changkyun stays sitting, pulling the cover around him while Kihyun goes to the door. Changkyun listens to him and Hyungwon talking from his seat in aisle seven, heart beating out of his chest. What the _hell_ was he doing?! Playing princess and building pillow forts? Changkyun wanted to laugh, he felt more like twelve rather than the college student he was.

Kihyun returned a moment later, Hyungwon in tow. “Hey, he needs me to go sign some stuff with one of our music sheet distributors, so…”

“Oh,” Changkyun stands up. “Yeah, no that’s fine. I um, I have homework I need to get home to anyways.” He lies. Kihyun offers an apologetic smile and Changkyun hears Hyungwon asking about the pillows as he goes in the back to get his bag. Changkyun glances at the bed, thinking about the pills again. Maybe he should ask about that sometime.

 

❰ ❱

Jooheon’s out with Minhyuk when he gets home, and thankfully when he was walking home the rain had lightened up. It was still cold though, and Changkyun quickly changed into clean clothes after a warm shower and a hot bowl of ramen. Hopefully Minhyuk would be over with food sometime this week.

Changkyun watches a few hours of TV and accidentally doses off. He wakes up when Jooheon comes home though, unfortunately empty handed. 

“Hey you.” Jooheon greets while taking off his rain soaked jacket. “Where were you last night?” He asks, walking over, catching himself before he sits down though, not wanting to get the couch wet. 

Changkyun wonders if boys have sleepovers. He doesn’t want Jooheon to think he’s gay. Not that Jooheon would care, I mean the guy was gay himself. Changkyun knew he wasn’t straight, but he’d never really went out and said it. “Uh,” Changkyun yawns to buy time. “At school.. I fell asleep in the classroom and since it’s the weekend no one came in to wake me.” Jooheon nodded and Changkyun smiled inside. He totally bought it.

“How was the play?” Jooheon asks next. Changkyun gets up, ready to leave before he gets into a lie he can’t back out of. 

“Good.” Another lie. “I’m exhausted, goodnight.” Changkyun rushes, already walking to his room. He thinks he hears Jooheon say goodnight back, but he closes his door before he can be sure. He glances at the papers littering his desk. He still hadn’t gotten around to writing Kihyun’s song.

That can come later, Changkyun tells himself. He’s tired, despite sleeping for most of his day off. He pulls his blanket over himself, and his bed is warm, he thinks as he closes his eyes; but not near as warm as Kihyun’s.


	6. keep talking

“You spend a lot of time out of the house lately.” Jooheon says one day, watching from the couch as Changkyun struggles to put his jacket on. One sleeve is inside out and it takes him a moment to pull it on correctly. Changkyun doesn’t comment on it because he knows Jooheon’s right. He’d been hanging out at the shop everyday after class for the past week. Changkyun couldn’t help it, ever since he’d almost kissed Kihyun, he couldn’t stay away. They hadn’t really had a chance to hang out alone since then, though. Hyungwon or Shownu were always around, and for good reason, the shop was getting a lot more attention lately. And more often than not, Changkyun ended up in conversation with someone from his class. 

Jooheon yawns and glances to the clock before his eyes land back on Changkyun. “So you gonna tell me where you’re heading at this hour?” Jooheon asks after getting no response.

“It’s only ten, hyung.” Changkyun points out. Jooheon stands up and walks over to where Changkyun’s sitting, tieing his shoes. “I have to drop something off to a friend.” And it’s true. He finished Kihyun’s song and Changkyun had spent at least an hour contemplating on whether to show him it tonight or tomorrow. He ended up not being able to sleep, and so here he was, nose deep in his thickest scarf and gloves tightly holding onto the three pages of the melody he’d finally gotten down on paper that was Kihyun.

Jooheon sighs and leans against the wall. Changkyun finishes the knot and stands up, instantly getting pulled into a hug. “Hyung?”

“You’re growing up so fast, getting a girlfriend and sneaking out to see her!” Jooheon sounds like he’s crying and Changkyun swears to god if he is then he’s moving out and finding a new roommate as soon a possible. Jooheon pulls back and pats his back. “You should bring her over sometime.”

Changkyun can’t help breaking into a smile. Both because Jooheon somehow still thought he was straight, and also because the thought of Kihyun being his made his heart tingle. “Yeah, okay hyung.” Changkyun says, playing along. Jooheon smiles and then he’s waving Changkyun off, maybe a little too eagerly pushing him out the door and Changkyun wonders if it’s because Minhyuk’s coming over. 

It’s colder than any other time he’s walked to the shop, the late night’s lack of sun to blame. Changkyun can’t help but to think about what Kihyun would say it he told him that his roommate thought he was sneaking out to see his girlfriend. The thought makes Changkyun laugh into his scarf and he’s glad no one else is out walking because he probably seems a little out of his mind. And maybe he is because he’s on his way to his crush's house to show him a song that he wrote about him without asking if he would even be home first. 

The light’s on when the place comes into sight, so that’s a good sign Changkyun thinks as he opens the door. No one’s at register, but Hyungwon’s voice is somewhere. Changkyun’s about to call out, but Hyungwon raises his voice, freezing Changkyun in place, too surprised to move.

“For god's sake Kihyun, I don’t know what to tell you!” There’s a pause and Changkyun holds his breath. He hears Hyungwon sigh. “I’m sorry, okay? But I’m not gonna sugarcoat this. You can either start going to your appointments again or you can let this ruin your life.”

“I can’t.” Changkyun hears Kihyun’s reply. His voice sounds mumbled and weak. “The last time I went they told me I had less than a year. Did you know that, Hyungwon? They fucking said that to my face. How do you expect me to go back there? They won't do anything, they can’t.” 

There’s another pause and Changkyun’s thoughts are running wild in his mind. Kihyun’s dying? Hyungwon sighs again and Changkyun thinks maybe he should leave now, before one of them notice him on the other side of the shelf. “You know this is your fault. You shouldn’t have tried to fix this on your own.” Hyungwon tells him. Kihyun lets out a soft _I know_. Hyungwon sounds like he’s crying. “You should’ve asked someone!” He yells. Something falls, there’s a loud sound and suddenly Hyungwon is walking towards Changkyun, only noticing Changkyun when he runs right into him. 

He looks surprised at first, but then quickly looks behind him. Kihyun didn’t follow him and he puts a finger up to his lips, guiding Changkyun back outside with him. Changkyun thinks he must be a genius because now Kihyun won’t know he heard anything. Then again, he’s not sure if that’s exactly a good thing. 

Hyungwon wipes his eyes after he’s pulled Changkyun over to the side of the building. Changkyun silently waits for him to collect himself, offering him his scarf when he shivers. He takes it, but doesn’t put it on. “You must be kind of confused.” He laughs, and it sounds sad. “How much did you hear?” He asks, hands playing with the scarf. 

“N-not a lot. Just about how Kihyun’s.. not got a lot of time left?” Changkyun feels unsure about his words. They sound weird, he was hoping he heard wrong, even though he knew he didn’t.

Hyungwon tells him everything. That when Kihyun was diagnosed with focal dystonia three years ago, and that he was told he had to stop playing piano. Kihyun had taken the news badly, Hyungwon told him that he started buying any and all medications that claimed to help him. He ended up taking so many different medications that shouldn’t be taken together that it damaged his heart. Kihyun was told he either needed a heart transplant or he had only years left to live. 

Hyungwon finished explaining just as the light inside the store turned off. “I’m sure you didn’t really want to know all of that.” Hyungwon says, continuing before Changkyun can tell him he doesn’t mind. “Last time he went in I guess they told him they couldn’t do anything, I didn’t know until today. I wouldn’t have bothered him about going to see the doctor. He.. he wasn’t planning on telling anyone I guess.” 

Changkyun wants to comfort him somehow, but he doesn’t know what’s okay to say and what’s not, so he settles for grabbing one of Hyungwon’s hands. Hyungwon looks up and smiles. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I’m, kind of glad you did.” Changkyun asks why. “You came around and suddenly Kihyun smiles a lot more.” Hyungwon laughs. “I remember when he called me and told me about the ‘cute boy who visits my store’. He said you were his first customer.”

“I was?” Changkyun asks, mostly because he’s too shy to ask if Kihyun really called him cute. Hyungwon nods. “Are you guys related?” 

“No,” Hyungwon says. “But he might as well be my brother. Me and him grew up together. He knew I was looking for a part time job so that’s why you see me here all the time.”

“And Shownu? Does he know.. anything about..?” Changkyun avoids saying ‘that Kihyun’s dying’, because even thinking about it in his head makes him sick.

Hyungwon shakes his head. “No, probably not. He met Kihyun just around the same time as you, looking for a job and even if Kihyun wants every dime he earns, he hired yet another person.” Hyungwon says, head shaking a little.

Hyungwon’s phone goes off and he hands Chankyung his scarf back so that he can dig his hand into his pocket. “Hello? Yeah, I’ll be home soon. Okay. Yes. Bye.” 

“I take it you need to go?” Changkyun says. Hyungwon nods.

“Don’t mention this to Kihyun.” Hyungwon says. “You should go home, it’s getting late.” 

“I will. Goodnight.” And then Hyungwon is walking away, leaving Changkyun with a handful of scarf in one palm, and papers full of music notes that he wasn’t sure anyone would ever see in the other.

Changkyun walks back to the front of the store, lights out this time. He’s probably sleeping, but Changkyun tries the door anyways. It opens and Changkyun definitely thinks he may be going a little to far as he makes his way to the backroom. Hopefully what Changkyun has in mind will be worth Kihyun thinking he’s a complete weirdo.

He knocks on the door and is happy to hear Kihyun shuffling around on the other side. “Hyungwon I don’t wanna talk right now, come back in the morning.”

“I-It’s me.” Changkyun says. And fuck, right now is _not_ the time to be getting nervous. Not when he hasn’t even said what he needs to. Kihyun opens the door, eyes puffy and confused.

“Changkyun? What are-”

“Will you go out with me?” Changkyun interrupts, holding out the papers in his hand and getting on one knee. Kihyun looks even more confused, one had raised over his mouth as he looks from Changkyun to the outstretched papers.

“Changkyun what-”

“Kihyun, I really like you. A-and I wrote this for you.” Kihyun would usually be mad for being interrupted, but he can’t complain, he can’t even speak and so Changkyun continues. “Ever since I met you, I’ve had this stuck in my head. And everytime you smile, everytime you laugh it plays. I tried for a long time, and now it’s finally down on paper. I would have given you roses, but they would have wilted. I can play this for you forever.”

Changkyuns check are burning and he wants to hide in his scarf he’s so embarrassed that he was capable of saying something so cheesy. Kihyun’s face is red too, but he grabs the papers, looking over each page. Changkyun stand up while he reads, waiting for him to finish.

“You really like me?” Kihyun asks. His voice is full of so much disbelief that Changkyun wants to pull him in for a hug, but he’s used up all of his boldness so he settles for a nod. “Okay.”

“What?”

“I’ll go out with you.” Kihyun says. Changkyun breaks into a smile and he doesn’t even think when he moves forward and pulls Kihyun close. “I mean, as long as you promise you’ll play this for me.”

Changkyun agrees and Kihyun pulls back, Changkyun lets him. “I wanna kiss you.” Kihyun’s eyes go wide and then he looks down, smiling at the floor.

“Go ahead..” Kihyun mumbles, looking up when Changkyun takes a step over. Kihyun’s lips feel so nice against his own, Changkyun thinks, and not another thought occupies his mind until Kihyun is tapping his shoulder and sliding his mouth against Changkyun’s in manner that makes Changkyun mad he didn’t do this sooner.

Kihyun pulls away first and they stay in each other's embrace while they catch their breath. “I think I need some time to think some stuff over, so could you go home for now?” Kihyun asks. Changkyun registers the words coming out of his mouth, but Kihyun’s grip on him tells him another story. Either way, Changkyun nods and lets his grip go limp, Kihyun does the same. “Will you come by tomorrow though?” Kihyun asks.

Changkyun wants to say ‘yes, of course I’d do anything you asked me to’, but he thinks he’s gone far enough tonight. “Yeah, and can I have Hyungwon’s number?” Kihyun gives him a questioning look. “And could I have yours while I’m at it?” Changkyun asks, hoping he doesn’t sound suspicious. Kihyun smiles and grabs his phone off his bed. Changkyun takes both numbers and Kihyun wishes him a goodnight before waving him off and a goodnight kiss or two. 

Changkyun practically runs home, out of breath and half out of his mind as he dials Hyungwon’s number. Jooheon and Minhyuk are giving him very incredulous looks as he waits for him to pick up, but Changkyun doesn’t care. He has a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ik i said quicker updates but ;w; i moved as quickly as possible while maintaining a quality fic!! ok so i hope you guys like it //


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